1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to co-processed carrageenan/xanthan compositions, methods of manufacture, and formulations containing such co-processed products.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various hydrocolloids and combinations thereof are known for use in the food industry. Carrageenan-based systems conventionally prepared by admixing crude or purified carrageenan gelling agent with one or more other hydrocolloids or gums are used to provide compositions or gels widely used as thickeners or gelling agents for prepared foods.
Known mixed gel systems intended for use in food or dentifrice applications are commercially dependent on convenient and economical extraction, purification and clarification techniques for obtaining the components substantially free of undesirable impurities and which, upon interaction with a gelling agent, produce clear, stable gels.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,569,838 (de Vries) discloses a dentifrice having desirable rheological properties suitable for facile extrusion from a flexible dentifrice tube. The dentifrice includes a siliceous polishing material, an anti-nucleating agent and a gelling agent mixture of iota-carrageenan and xanthan which is prepared by physical mixing of iota-carrageenan and xanthan.
In the curing of meats, the dressed meat is usually injected with a brine solution, typically by multi-needle injection or by stitch or artery pumping. The injection may be followed by resting, tumbling and/or massaging and finally cooking. Alternatively, the meat may be tumbled or massaged in the brine solution. Some standard pickling procedures are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,565,539; 3,683,789 and 3,922,357.
There is a tendency for the injected brine to leak out of distributed, uncooked food products in either fresh, chilled or frozen condition, during distribution or sale or at the final customer. Thus, there is a need to reduce leakage or liquid seepage from meat products into which brine solution has been incorporated. This tendency may be measured as “drip loss” and may be measured for products which have been specially packaged, e.g. under vacuum or reduced pressure, or for products which have been packaged without vacuum or reduced pressure.
In addition, food products into which brine solutions are incorporated may also suffer from the problem of excess weight loss during cooking. Thus, the incorporated solution may leak out during cooking, creating a higher than acceptable weight loss in the product.
One prior art technique for addressing this problem is to add sodium chloride and/or sodium tripolyphosphates to meat products in order to increase the water-binding capacity of the meats. However, this technique may be undesirable in certain applications due to considerations such as the sodium and phosphate contents of the resultant meat products which may adversely impact their consumer appeal.
In the prior art, it is known to mix brine and gelling polysaccharides such as carrageenan or gellan to provide a solution for injection into food products. U.S. Pat. No. 6,685,978 (Hauksson) discloses a process for forming a food treating composition by mixing water, a gellable polysaccharide and a gelling cation. The gellable polysaccharide may comprises at least one of carrageenans and carrageenans in combination with at least one of locust bean gum, cassia gum, or konjac gum, xanthan gum and xanthan gum in combination with seed gums, meal or flour of seaweeds containing gelling polysaccharides, either treated or untreated. Preferably, the polysaccharide comprises one or more of iota carrageenan, kappa carrageenan, xanthan gum and low ester pectins.
Gelcarin® ME 4951 stabilizer from FMC BioPolymer comprises a mixture of carrageenan and xanthan. This stabilizer is recommended for use in the meat processing industry for injection and tumbling when making cooked ham. Brines made with this stabilizer are said to show little or no sedimentation upon standing without stirring and to result in a decreased cooking loss.
Viscarin® SD 2069 stabilizer from FMC BioPolymer comprises a mixture of xanthan and carrageenan with sugars for standardization. This stabilizer is recommended for use to thicken and stabilize spoonable salad dressings, mayonnaise, sauces and gravies.
Gelcarin® DX 7150 stabilizer from FMC BioPolymer comprises a mixture of carrageenan, calcium lactate, xanthan gum and sugars for standardization. This stabilizer is recommended for use in dry mix cake glazes.
Danagel® AF 9050 stabilizer from FMC BioPolymer comprises a mixture of carrageenan, xanthan and calcium lactate. This stabilizer is recommended for use in specialty fragrance gels with high clarity.
Gelling compositions for food products may be prepared in a number of ways. U.S. Pat. No. 5,498,436 (Modliszewski et al.), for example, discloses a composition comprising: (A) a co-precipitate consisting essentially of: (a) a galactomannan, with (b) a glucomannan, and (B) optionally a gelling agent admixed with the formed co-precipitate. Gelling agents, such as carrageenan may be mixed with the co-precipated product after co-precipitation. Co-precipitation of components (a) and (b) was found to increase the cold solubility of the composition as compared to a physical mixture of the same components.
U.S. Patent application publication no. US 2002/0019447 A1 discloses methods for the clarification of hydrocolloids such as carrageenans and xanthan. In addition, this publication discloses the co-precipitation of a series of hydrocolloid pairs in the examples. A similar disclosure is found in U.S. Patent application publication no. US 2005/0070704 A1.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,952,686 (Renn et al.) discloses soluble cassia alloy gum compositions and processes for making them. One such composition is a co-precipitated combination of cassia gum extract and carrageenan co-precipitated using isopropyl alcohol. The co-precipitated material may be used for absorbing aqueous media.
Despite the foregoing, there remains a need for improved hydrocolloid compositions for use in food and dentifrice products to provide a reduction in leakage or drip loss for injected or tumbled foods, or to improve the rheological properties of a dentifrice.